Which is more correct "fewer than hundred people" or "less than hundred people"? [duplicate]

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When is “less” appropriate vs. “fewer”?

Which is more correct "fewer than hundred people" or "less than hundred people"? According to my grammar book, "few' is used for number where as "less" is used to imply quantity,so I think "fewer than hundred people" is more correct but Google ngrams speaks otherwise.

Which is more correct?

Well, for reasons you've already seen, it depends on your definition of "correct".

If by "correct", you mean "conforming with usage in the type of literature/writing/speech that I wish to use", then the ngram results give you a partial answer, but you may also wish to have a look at some of the actual results and see what genre of writing they're from, or look at results specifically from the literature corpus if you're interested in fairly "formal" usage. But as a generality, both "less" and "fewer" are possible in this case, as evidenced in the figures you have.

If by "correct" you mean "conforming with the usage stipulated in my grammar book", then you know which usage your grammar book advocates, and you need to think about whether you actually find the grammar book's argumentation convincing and compelling, and whether you have any particular reason to go with its recommendation rather than your evidence of actual usage.

P.S. In any case, you need to include the "a" in "a hundred".

Oh, this has been a bone of contention in proscriptive circles for quite a while.

The "use fewer only for countables and less only for non-countables" debate has raged ridiculously and futilely in the background, while speakers and writers of English have completely ignored it.

The discussion arose because fewer can't be used for non-countables, so a number of (very loud) people got the idea that less should only be used for non-countables, to balance it.

That's all very nice, and all very logical, but unfortunately it's nonsense, because less has always been used in every native dialect for both countables and non-countables, and wishing that it weren't won't make it stop.

Bottom line:

-- If the person paying you to write or marking your work insists on your following this matter of style, follow it.

-- If your writing isn't being paid or marked, use the one that feels best to you in the sentence.

-- If someone challenges your (unpaid) usage of less for a countable, ask him if he truly believes that twelve is not less than twenty.